Ex-Carmel real estate developer sentenced for fraud

A former Carmel real estate developer was sentenced Wednesday in San Jose to 78 months in prison for wire fraud and money laundering arising out of a golf course investment fraud scheme in which he defrauded more than 50 victims of more than $16 million, according to U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag.

Thomas Joseph O'Meara, III, 66, formerly a Carmel resident now living in Palm Desert, previously pleaded guilty on July 25 to wire fraud in violation of federal law.

O'Meara admitted in his plea agreement he carried out an investment fraud scheme from 2004 to 2007 involving 50 or more victims in an 18-hole golf course and gated housing development in Fresno called Running Horse Golf and Country Club.

The development failed, investors lost millions, no PGA Tour golf event took place and the 450 Fresno-area acres on which the golf course and gated community were to have been located remain largely undeveloped.

O'Meara's sentence was handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Lucy H. Koh, who ordered O'Meara remanded into custody immediately after sentencing.

Judge Koh also sentenced the defendant to a three-year period of supervised release and ordered a hearing on restitution to take place on Feb. 6.

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Ex-Carmel real estate developer sentenced for fraud

A former Carmel real estate developer was sentenced Wednesday in San Jose to 78 months in prison for wire fraud and money laundering arising out of a golf course investment fraud scheme in which he